Callum Simpson is the new British and Commonwealth super-middleweight champion. The 27 year old from Barnsley boxed his way to a dominant unanimous decision over Zak Chelli in front of a raucous home support at Oakwell.

Simpson’s team pencilled a fight at the home of the town’s football team into the diary a long time ago but his promoters, Boxxer, took a little persuading to bring it to the relatively unproven and inexperienced challenger’s hometown. 

They needn’t have worried. The 7,000 available tickets sold out quickly and the fans created a real big fight atmosphere inside the stadium. Most importantly of all, Simpson dealt with the occasion perfectly. 

Unsurprisingly both fighters looked tense in the opening exchanges but Simpson, 15-0 (10 KOs), was clearly determined not to let the awkward, unorthodox Chelli, 15-3-1 (7 KOs), find his feet and fall into his rhythm. The unbeaten challenger made the Londoner feel his power early. Chelli felt a right hand in the opening stages but was definitely hurt by a left hook and then had his legs stiffened by a right as Simpson got off to an excellent start.

Sensibly, Simpson toned his attacks down a little in the second, holding the centre of the ring and trying to land straight shots, but he also rushed his attacks a little and Chelli began to find his feet. He got in with a couple of jabs and landed a nice looping left hook in the third, but the taller Simpson continued to bear down on him, landing his jab and building a solid early lead. 

The fight began to look more like a typical Chelli fight in the fourth round. Simpson began to find himself waiting at arms length rather than punching, and Chelli, 26, found his timing and range with his jab. He landed a nice right hand – his best punch of the fight – and Simpson appeared to be second guessing himself.

After a tricky couple of rounds, Simpson reset himself in the sixth. Rather than falling into Chelli’s rhythm, Simpson planted himself in the centre of the ring and put a little bounce into his footwork. There were no clean, hurtful shots landed, but Chelli neglected his jab and looked to loop in big single shots while Simpson worked at a steady pace and re-established control. 

Although at times it was a messy fight, Simpson maintained that control through the seventh, and Chelli appeared to be running out of ideas. He would land a nice double jab or whip in a left hook, and he could make Simpson miss, but there was no consistency to his work. Simpson just kept on working away.

There were flashes of hope for Chelli in the ninth when he negated much of Simpson’s work and landed a pair of clean right hands, but nothing seemed to be troubling the home fighter, who is renowned for his stamina, and held his shape well. 

The championship rounds turned into a case of fight management for Simpson. He started the 11th with a nice reverse one-two, and he successfully sucked the ambition out of Chelli, who was forced on to the retreat. He didn’t tighten up as the finish line approached; he continued to push out that jab and worked Chelli over in the corner when he could.

It was a solid, mature performance from Simpson, who rose to the occasion of the biggest night of his life and thoroughly deserved the unanimous decision he was awarded. The scores were wide – 118-111, 118-110, and 117-111.

Next time they come to town, Boxxer may just need to set out the stadium for a crowd bigger than 7,000.